Iris Recognition Technology and the U.S. Border Patrol

One of Donald Trump’s main campaign promises was to build a border wall on the U.S./Mexican border. But can iris recognition technology be used instead?

Bio

George Joseph (@GeorgeJoseph94) is a reporting fellow at Demos focusing on surveillance, immigration, law enforcement, and the entry of big data in criminal justice systems. His work has appeared in outlets such as The Guardian, NPR, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Verge, Slate, and CityLab.

Resources

News Roundup

Trump attacks Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg fires back

President Trump attacked Mark Zuckerberg last week. The president complained on Twitter that “Facebook was always anti-Trump … The Networks were always anti-Trump.” He continued, ” hence,Fake News, @nytimes(apologized) & @WaPo were anti-Trump. Collusion?” So Zuckerberg fired back “Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don’t like. That’s what running a platform for all ideas looks like.” Further, UNC Associate Professor Zeynep Tufekci wrote an op-ed for the New York Times. In it, she denounced Zuckerberg’s rebuttal as more “both sides” false equivalency, pointing out Facebook’s record ad revenues last year.

Senate confirms FCC’s Pai to 5-year term

On Monday, the Senate confirmed Republican Ajit Pai to a five-year term as FCC Chairman. The vote was 52-41 along party lines.

Conservatives are railing against YouTube

Conservatives are railing against YouTube for taking down ads appearing on content YouTube deemed to violate its terms of service. YouTube says the move was part of an effort to remove hate speech. But those on the right say YouTube is just discriminating against them. Ali Breland reports in the Hill.

Apple reports spike in secret national security orders

Apple reported an uptick in secret National Security orders in the first half of this year. Zack Whittaker at ZDNet reports that there was a threefold increase in secret orders issued against Apple users compared to the same period last year.

Securities and Exchange Commission charges two crytocurrency scammers

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is charging two scammers in connection with their sale of cryptocurrencies. ReCoin Group Foundation and DRC world allegedly told investors they could expect huge returns for their investments in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The problem is that the companies weren’t actually in operation. Ali Breland reports in the Hill.

Senate confirms Makan Delrahim to DOJ Antitrust division

The Senate has confirmed Makan Delrahim to lead the DOJ’s antirust division. Previously, Delrahim worked in the White House counsel’s office. Harper Neidig reports for the Hill that Delrahim will head up the review of the $85.4 billion AT&T/Time Warner Merger.

EU threatens social media companies with fines for hate speech

Ivana Kottasová at CNN reports that the European Union has issued a final warning against Facebook and Twitter regarding hate speech. Mariya Gabriel, the EU’s top digital economy and society official, says flagged hate speech needs to come down quickly. Gabriel says that in almost a third of cases, it’s taking more than a week. Some European countries are cracking down on hate speech with or without the EU. Germany, for example, is instituting $59 million fines for failing to remove hate speech within 24 hours.

Dems propose $40 billion for rural broadband

Democrats are proposing $40 billion to boost rural broadband. Democrats released the recommendation as part of their “Better Deal” agenda released in July. Harper Neidig reports in The Hill.

Google separates shopping from search

Google acted last week to separate its online shopping unit from its traditional search. Some experts see the move as a concession to European officials who fined Google $2.7 billion over the summer. The European Commission had found that Google had prioritized its shopping results over rivals. The new structure will allow officials to directly regulate Google shopping. James Kanter has the story in The New York Times.

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